🗓️
2026
The Rum Runners
Birmingham, 1980. A group of young outsiders orbit the Rum Runner nightclub — the centre of their world — until its closure threatens to pull everything apart. Set against the rise of the New Romantic scene, it’s a story of youth, identity and the spaces that shape us.
Birmingham, 1980.
In a city caught between industrial decline and cultural explosion, The Rum Runners follows a tight-knit group of young outsiders whose lives orbit around one place: the Rum Runner nightclub.
JD and Barney — best mates, dreamers, and self-appointed kings of their social scene — drift through Thatcher’s Britain, finding purpose, identity and connection under the club’s neon lights. It’s where they meet people, chase romance, and feel part of something bigger than the grey streets outside.
When they discover the club is about to close, their fragile world is thrown into crisis.
Back at their chaotic Harold Road house — self-dubbed “The Centre of the Universe” — their wider circle barely registers the threat. Musicians, drifters and hangers-on lounge in a haze of smoke and vinyl, more concerned with the next track than the future. But JD sees clearly: without the Rum Runner, everything unravels.
As tensions rise, JD rallies the group to save the club — whatever it takes. What begins as desperation becomes something larger: an idea, a movement, and the beginnings of a band that could redefine their lives.
Set against the birth of the New Romantic scene, The Rum Runners is a story about youth, identity, friendship, and the spaces that shape us — before they disappear.
